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“Evan?” Catherine asked.
“I’m all in,” he confirmed. It was a solid plan.
“Kayla?” she asked.
She nodded. “Fine. Do it.”
Catherine did her giddy clap. “If you go to the next page, you’ll see what I want to send to the customers is basically a copy of the press release. I’d like to send it out to them first just so they feel more in the know.”
They went over the small logistics involved and before he left, there was a fully fledged plan in Catherine and Kayla’s hands ready to launch.
ChapterTwenty-Seven
Evan
Thursday was spent launching all Catherine’s plans. Evan didn’t have much that was needed from him, so he finally went back to work for most of the day.
They consulted a marketing firm to do the ads that Catherine requested, but Evan had left that up to them to sort out. He had full trust in them to make the right decisions, and now that the drama was dying down, he was backing off more as Kayla wanted.
It killed him. Not the silent partner bit—he was a silent partner in more businesses than he could count off the top of his head. It was the fact that he had no reason to even talk to her now if he left himself out of the business.
He wanted to talk to her. He also had his break-up date tonight with K. She seemed like a good person, but he hadn’t heard from her since she requested the date, driving home the point even more that they weren’t a good fit. He was too interested in Kayla to care, but he didn’t want a scene from K either.
Jake’s investigators had managed to follow up on one lead, which was a bust. It looked like they might have better luck on the other one, but they were still waiting to confirm. He didn’t ask any other questions about it.
At this point, as much as he wanted her caught, the urgency had died down since they confirmed no data was stolen. He wouldn’t say it could take forever, but he was less pressed about it.
He searched the internet periodically to see how things were going. So far it seemed that most of the outlets had picked up the narrative that they were putting out there and the blackmailer was being shamed in comments.
Tomorrow he was going to get away for a little while if everything was still looking up. He didn’t think Kayla would be ready to talk to him yet, so leaving and removing himself from everything that reminded him of her was his next best option.
Just a nice long weekend somewhere far away. He might ask Jake where he had taken Lauren and go there. A beach sounded nice. A nice cold beer and his feet in the sand would certainly take his mind off things.
His reminder about the date went off, and he checked his emails one more time, replying to a few. He should be proud that his office had run so smoothly without him in the last few weeks while he’d been so distracted, but it was one more thing that seemed not to need him.
When he got back, he’d look for a new investment. Something to immerse himself in and build up from scratch. He loved doing it, and it was a time-consuming process.
He shrugged into this jacket and walked over to the mirror, adjusting his yellow tie. They’d both agreed to wear yellow in the date settings so they could recognize each other. Hopefully, nothing was going on that had a bunch of other people wearing it, too.
They did have the app to talk to each other if they couldn’t find each other. It was a real blind date this time, and he found it weird to think he might see her in person. Not because he was nervous, but just because she’d been one date and a handful of conversations. Up until tonight, she bordered on fictional to him.
He wasn’t driving tonight, instead opting for a car just in case things went south, as it would make it easier to leave. With the other two dates going as they did, he couldn’t put anything past anyone anymore.
Evan made a mental note to tell everyone that he was done with the blind dates for now. It had been an experience, to say the least, and as much as he wanted to settle down with one woman, it wasn’t in the cards for him right now unless Kayla wanted the same thing from him.
He didn’t care who was left to set him up; he wasn’t ready. His friends would understand and if nothing else, he could tell Kayla via text that he was done.
She was on his mind as he made his way down to the waiting car. He gave in and sent her a text before he made it to his date.
Evan:How’s it going? Any news from the blackmailer?
Kayla:Good and nope.
These were the kinds of responses he got from her now, and he worried it might be all he ever got again. If she would just talk to him, he might be able to fix whatever it was he’d done, but with the way things were, he didn’t even know where to start.
“We’re here,” his driver said.
“Thank you. I don’t know how long I’ll be,” he reminded him.
